"Work-shy to lose benefits for three years" under Iain Duncan Smith's plans

"Unemployed workers will be barred from claiming benefits for up to three years if they repeatedly refuse job offers under radical plans to reform the welfare system. Anyone claiming unemployment benefit will have to sign a "three strikes and you're out" contract setting out punishments for the work-shy. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, will announce a "claimant contract" which will set out the sanctions against those refusing to take up offers of work." – Daily Telegraph

"Publishing a white paper on welfare reform in Parliament, Mr Duncan Smith is expected to say the current system is hugely complex and costly to administer, vulnerable to fraud, and deters people from finding a job and extending their hours. Mr Duncan Smith, who campaigned for root-and-branch welfare reform while in opposition, has said millions of people have become "trapped" on benefits and long-term unemployment has become entrenched in communities where generation of families have not worked for years." – BBC

Yesterday's student riots dominate this morning's papers…

"Student demonstrators brought violence to London's streets yesterday on a scale not seen since the poll tax riots of 20 years ago. The ferocity of the protest ended the high hopes of a new era of consensus politics, promised by David Cameron when he took office exactly six months ago. It is expected to be the first of many angry demonstrations as the impact of the Government's cuts is felt. More than 50,000 people brought Westminster to a standstill with a peaceful march past Parliament to protest against the proposal to increase tuition fees to up to £9,000 a year." – The Independent

"The protest turned violent as around 200 people stormed 30 Millbank, the central London building that is home to Tory HQ, where police wielding batons clashed with a crowd hurling placard sticks, eggs and some bottles… Lady Warsi, the Tory party chair, was in her office when protesters broke in. She initially had no police protection as the protesters made their way up the fire stairs to the roof. Police who eventually made it to Tory HQ decided not to evacuate staff from the building but to concentrate on removing the demonstrators." – The Guardian

"With the coalition six months old today, ministers are watching for any sense that the disorder represents a change of mood, with demonstrators trying to emulate the violence that has swept France and Greece. About 40,000 demonstrators took part in the largest student protest for more than a decade." – The Times (£)

"Speaking during a round of TV interviews at the G20 summit in South Korean capital Seoul, Mr Cameron said: "People who assault police officers or who smash windows or who break property are breaking the law and yes, those people I hope… will be prosecuted. They should be. People long in our history have gone to marches and held banners and made protests and made speeches and that's part of our democracy. That is right. What is not part of our democracy is that sort of violence and lawbreaking. It's not right. It's not acceptable and I hope that the full force of the law will be used." – Press Association

…as questions are asked about police preparations…

"Britain's biggest police force was facing serious questions last night over its failure to stop a mass riot on the streets of London. The Metropolitan Police’s boss admitted he was embarrassed at the performance of his officers as they spent hours dealing with hordes running amok. Last night, it emerged that at the height of the trouble there were just 20 uniformed officers to deal with the hundreds surging into Millbank Tower. In all, the Met deployed only 225 officers to control a demonstration that ended up with 50,000 on the streets." – Daily Mail

…and the Lib Dems find themselves abused by students for the first time

"In honour of the coalition's deal on higher tuition fees, student protesters spliced their message with cheerful abuse of Nick Clegg. After almost 100 years of apathy Lib Dems can hold their heads high – hated at last." – Michael White in the Guardian

"Standing in for David Cameron during Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Clegg was confronted about his party's change of stance after campaigning against a fees rise in the General Election. Mr Clegg acknowledged that graduates who go on to high-earning careers will pay "over the odds" for their degrees as part of the shake-up of higher education funding. But he insisted the Government's plans were a "fair and progressive solution to a very difficult problem". – Sky News

George Osborne: "If we hadn’t cut when we did, we would be in the firing line"

"George Osborne has dismissed fears that Britain could be swept up in the renewed eurozone sovereign debt turmoil, saying that its banking system was capable of withstanding new shocks and that his deficit-cutting plans had pulled the UK’s public finances out of the market “firing line”. In an interview with The Times, the Chancellor also brushed aside a call by the International Monetary Fund for the Treasury to draw up a fall-back plan in case the global economy lurches into a new downturn, saying “all my energy” remains focused on cutting the deficit." – The Times (£)

Lord Young: Britain’s future depends on the birth and growth of new businesses – Daily Telegraph

David Cameron hears same old gripes from Beijing students as at home

"Cameron Direct, the prime minister's meet-the-people roadshow, went global yesterday as he launched his trademark question and answer session in Peking University, only to find the supposedly dragooned communist Chinese students were just the same as their British counterparts – angry about his plans to raise tuition fees and cynical over the lack of ideological distinction between UK political parties." – The Guardian

Benedict Brogan: Will we remember David Cameron for the triumphs or the trivia?

"Today, Mr Cameron marks his first six months as Prime Minister. If we had to say at this early stage what his record might look like, and assuming the usual caveats about events, we could take a punt on the economy, for a start… On every other front, though, there is nothing for him to file away in the scrapbook yet. Revolutions have been launched in education, health, welfare and the way the political system as a whole works, but we cannot tell if they will end up as triumphs or pointless, costly messes" – Benedict Brogan in the Daily Telegraph

"The government's ambitious plans to let English councils decide where new housing is to be built were thrown into confusion last night after Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, lost a court battle over his decision to scrap the the previous administration's regional targets. Upon taking office in May Pickles wrote to local authorities to announce his intention to "rapidly abolish regional spatial strategies" and instructed councils to start devising their own housing targets. The result was that local authorities cancelled plans for 189,000 new homes. Yesterday courts ruled this was illegal with a judge accepting that primary legislation should have been introduced, giving MPs the opportunity to debate an issue crucial to future planning in England." – The Guardian

Electoral Commission concerned about repeat of election vote chaos

"Ministers have been warned they are missing an opportunity to stop people being denied the opportunity to vote, as happened in the general election. Thousands could not cast ballots before polls closed in May due to long queues and problems at polling stations. The Electoral Commission said it was "disappointed" the law on handing out ballots was not being changed before a 2011 referendum on voting reform." – BBC

"Three former Labour MPs accused of fiddling their expenses will stand trial within weeks after losing their last-minute appeal to avoid prosecution. David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine, who deny theft by false accounting, took their cases to the Supreme Court, claiming that they were protected from prosecution by parliamentary privilege." – The Times (£)

Life after the expenses row – The Independent catches up with a number of MPs who left the Commons under a cloud

Millionaire Lib Dem MP used expenses system to borrow money for business empire – The Times (£)

EU President declares the nation state dead

"The age of the nation state is over and the idea that countries can stand alone is an ‘illusion’ and a ‘lie’, the EU president believes. In one of the most open proclamations of the goal of a European superstate since the heyday of Jacques Delors, Herman Van Rompuy went on to denounce Eurosceptism as the greatest threat to peace." – Daily Mail

"My first reaction to this latest ­diktat was to laugh out loud. This ­blustering Belgian, the grandest ­panjandrum in Brussels, is straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan. ‘President’ Van Rompuy and his British colleague, the EU ‘High Representative’ Baroness Ashton, cut richly comic figures on the international stage. It is tempting to dismiss their empire-building as an extravagant but otherwise harmless pastime. The trouble is that these Eurocrats not only waste tens of billions of pounds on their palatial offices and legions of flunkeys — they have real power, too." – Daniel Johnson in the Daily Mail

"The new Bill that encapsulates the sovereignty of Parliament won't please eurosceptics, but at least it safeguards against any further erosion of national power". – Telegraph editorial

'Currency war' showdown looms as leaders head to G20 summit – The Independent

The Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum will be opened tonight by the Princess Royal

"I announced in 2008 that I was donating £5 million to build a new gallery at the Imperial War Museum. The purpose of the gallery is to house the biggest collection of Victoria Crosses in the world – decorations that I have amassed over the past 24 years – along with VCs and George Crosses already in the ownership, or care, of the museum. I feel deeply honoured that this evening HRH the Princess Royal will open the Lord Ashcroft Gallery in front of 350 distinguished guests, including senior politicians and military leaders. I am delighted too that the majority of our living VC and GC recipients will be there." – Lord Ashcroft writing in the Daily Express

And finally… Labour to attack Brown’s record on economy

"Alan Johnson, the shadow chancellor, is to launch an attack on Gordon Brown’s stewardship of the economy, saying he allowed Britain to become overdependent on tax receipts from the City and housing. Mr Johnson’s admission that Labour presided over “an unbalanced economy” is part of a strategy to show that he has learnt the lessons of the past and to help rebuild the party’s economic credibility. He privately admits Labour has been sidelined in the economic debate since the election, allowing George Osborne, chancellor, to present Labour as wreckers of the economy and living in a state of “deficit denial”. – FT (£)

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